Description

'In a short life he accomplished much, and to the roll of great names in the history of his particular studies added his own.' So is described one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century, yet Alan Turing's name was not widely recognised until his contribution to the breaking of the German Enigma code became public in the 1970s. The story of Turing's life fascinates and in the years since his suicide, Turing's reputation has only grown, as his contributions to logic, mathematics, computing, artificial intelligence and computational biology have become better appreciated. To commemorate the centenary of Turing's birth, this republication of his mother's biography is enriched by a new foreword by Martin Davis and a never-before-published memoir by Alan's older brother. The contrast between this memoir and the original biography reveals tensions and sheds new light on Turing's relationship with his family, and on the man himself.

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Contents

Foreword to the Centenary Edition Martin Davis; Preface to the First Edition; Foreword to the First Edition Lyn Irvine; Preface; Part I. Mainly Biographical: 1. Family background; 2. Childhood and early boyhood; 3. At Sherborne school; 4. At Cambridge; 5. At the Graduate College, Princeton; 6. Some characteristics; 7. War work in the Foreign Office; 8. At the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington; 9. Work with the Manchester Automatic Digital Machine; 10. Broadcasts and intelligent machinery; 11. Morphogenesis; 12. Relaxation; 13. Last days and some tributes; Part II. Containing Computing Machinery and Morphogenesis: 14. Computing machinery; 15. Chemical theory of morphogenesis considered; My brother Alan John Turing; Bibliography; Index.